A deadline is defined as a time limit, especially the time by which an article, etc. scheduled for publication must be completed. As my editor called to remind me about my deadline for this piece, I began thinking about the pain and loathing that have been caused by deadlines from the beginnings of the world of business. From grade school through college, students fear the dreaded deadline for production of brilliant pieces of work.
The law is also time sensitive in many ways and deadlines are unavoidable. In civil litigation, judges routinely set discovery deadlines and other time deadlines within which cases must be fully prepared for trial. In criminal cases, prosecutors must act expeditiously or cases may be dismissed for lack of prosecution. In fact, our Constitution mandates promptness here.
Arguably, the most important deadlines concerning litigation are the various “Statutes of Limitation”. These Statutes refer to the period within which a particular type of lawsuit must be filed with the Court. In the criminal world, the Statutes refer to the time within which charges must be brought from the date of a crime.
In Pennsylvania, the most significant Statutes of Limitations are two years and four years. Virtually all negligence cases (which include car accidents) and all cases involving torts or civil wrongs must be filed within two years of the happening of the event. If you are too late, you have missed your deadline, and you will not be able to proceed with your lawsuit. The four-year Statute of Limitations generally governs contracts, whether written or oral. Naturally, there are many exceptions to these rules – for example, the Statute of Limitations for defamation (i.e., libel or slander) is one year.
There are two broad-based exceptions to the general rules of requiring timeliness in the filing of civil litigation. First, the Statute of Limitations does not run against minors, and generally speaking, any cause of action which accrues to a minor will exist for a period equal to the Statute of Limitations after the minor becomes the age of 18. A second general exception to the deadline rule is called the “Discovery Rule”; if you are the victim of the negligence of another but are not aware of the wrongdoing for some time, you may be able to extend the Statute of Limitations for that period of time when you were reasonably unaware of the injury. For example, if a doctor leaves a sponge in your belly, the Statute of Limitations might arguably be extended from the date of the surgery until the date the sponge is discovered, presuming you have used reasonable diligence to discover the source of your pain.
Unfortunately, in life and in law there is no way to avoid deadlines. We must simply do our best to try to meet them with early planning.
— Bill Brennan